Route 66 is only one of the highways that options in “On The Road,” the Jack Kerouac ebook that launched so many individuals to white-line wanderlust.
More than something written concerning the iconic freeway, it’s a quote from that ebook that personifies the virtually mystical attract of America’s most well-known highway: “Nothing behind me, everything ahead of me.”
That’s precisely what Route 66 has meant to hundreds of thousands of vacationers who’ve cruised all or half of the freeway since its start 100 years in the past — freedom to make a recent begin, reinvent your self, and go away your troubles within the rearview mirror.
“Route 66 came along when the idea of a road trip was just getting started,” says Sean FitzGibbons, govt director of the History Museum on the Square in Springfield, Missouri. “It encapsulated so much of 20th-century Americana and over time it just kind of gained this mythical resonance within the zeitgeist of the world.”
The freeway’s roots stretch again to the early Nineteen Twenties and it’s an early instance of government-private sector cooperation.
When the federal authorities determined to quantity the primary cross-country highways — an try and make it simpler for motorists to navigate what was then a willy-nilly naming system — they created a route from Chicago to Los Angeles that grew to become U.S. Highway No. 66.
Hoping to stimulate tourism along the brand new route, a pair of enterprising businessmen in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and Springfield, Missouri, created maps, brochures, billboards and promoting campaigns to advertise the highway. Their purpose was boosting tourism in their very own cities, however they inadvertently made driving the whole route a bucket-list journey.
Their efforts coincided with the arrival of motoring holidays within the United States and iconic roadside providers like diners, motor lodges, service stations and curio outlets.
Route 66 took on a complete completely different which means through the Dust Bowl environmental catastrophe of the Thirties, when tens of hundreds of disenfranchised farmers and their households used the highway as their pathway to the promised land of California.
The freeway was quickly immortalized within the novel “The Grapes of Wrath” by John Steinbeck, who referred to as Route 66 the “Mother Road,” and within the Woody Guthrie track “Talking Dust Bowl Blues.”
The greatest enhance to its legendary standing got here in 1946 when Bobby Troup recorded “(Get Your Kicks On) Route 66,” a track that epitomized the spirit to interrupt free and dwell a bit of after so a few years of the Great Depression and World War II.
All these years later, the Mother Road continues to represent the wind-in-your-hair freedom of a cross-country highway journey. Here are six essential stops on Route 66:
Route 66 begins its westward run on the intersection of Adams Street and Michigan Avenue among the many skyscrapers of downtown Chicago. Several indicators mark the spot, but it surely’s a reasonably modest debut for such a well-known highway, which cuts throughout the Windy City’s sprawling suburbs onto the rolling prairie of central Illinois.
Most of the unique roadway was changed by Interstate 55. But many of the communities along the best way provide reminders that the Mother Road as soon as handed by way of their city. Like the Blues Brothers dancing beside the “Kicks on 66” signal atop the Rich & Creamy ice cream stand in Joliet, the Gemini Giant Muffler Man in Cicero, and the Route 66 Hall of Fame & Museum in Pontiac.
Eventually, the freeway leaps throughout the mighty Mississippi River from Illinois into St. Louis, Missouri. Over the years, Route 66 has entered the town on varied spans, together with the Old Chain of Rocks Bridge. No longer open to motorized visitors, these days the one-mile span carries pedestrians and cyclists throughout the river, passing a number of classic Route 66 indicators along the best way.
Route 66 adopted a number of alignments by way of downtown St. Louis through the years, together with a Tucker Boulevard route that features the French Renaissance-style metropolis corridor and a view down Market Street to the Gateway Arch and the domed Old Courthouse.
Before exiting the town, the freeway passes one of the good Route 66 style treats — Ted Drewes Frozen Custard. Opened in 1941, the roadside stand is famend for its thick “concrete” vanilla custard blended with a range of substances.
On the periphery of St. Louis, Route 66 State Park preserves a traditional Thirties roadhouse transformed right into a customer middle museum and present store promoting Route 66 swag.
The first president of the National U.S. 66 Highway Association, Springfield businessman John T. Woodruff, was a longtime advocate for higher roads and one of the unique movers and shakers behind the creation of the Mother Road.
Sean FitzGibbons explains that when the federal freeway people introduced that the Chicago-Los Angeles route would bear the quantity 62, “Woodruff stepped in and said, ‘You know, that sounds kind of second rate. I think we should do 66.’ He just thought it sounded better. It was pretty much a marketing decision.”
FitzGibbons’ History Museum on The Square is celebrating the centennial with a Route 66 “Miles of Memories” exhibition (June 1-September 20) and the burial of a public faculty time capsule slated for opening in 2126 on the Route 66 bicentennial.
The museum overlooks Park Central Square, which can host the Birthplace of Route 66 Festival on August 7-8, an occasion that features dwell music and a traditional automobile present.
Springfield can also be residence to the Route 66 Car Museum and two classic motor resorts that served early vacationers along the Mother Road — Rockwood Motor Court (opened in 1929) and the Route 66 Rail Haven motel (opened in 1938).
Often referred to as the “Father of Route 66,” Tulsa businessman Cyrus Avery was one other true believer sooner or later of motor journey and sometimes partnered with Woodruff to make the route a actuality and encourage individuals to drive it.
Fully embracing its freeway heritage, Tulsa has preserved an array of unique Route 66 sights. Named for a neon signal that has loomed excessive above the freeway since 1934, the Meadow Gold District flaunts greater than a dozen different classic indicators and a memento store referred to as Buck Atom’s Cosmic Curios with its big “Space Cowboy” muffler man statue.
Downtown Tulsa is residence to the Woody Guthrie Center, an interactive museum that celebrates the life, legacy and music of the person who helped make Route 66 well-known. The Cyrus Avery Centennial Plaza & Route 66 Neon Sign Park presents a whimsical Route 66-inspired bronze statue and the flags of all seven states the freeway passes by way of.
To rejoice the freeway’s one centesimal birthday, the town hopes to set a Guinness World Record for the largest-ever traditional automobile parade through an occasion referred to as Tulsa’s Route 66 Capital Cruise on May 30. With dwell music and meals vehicles along the route, the vehicles will rumble down eleventh Street by way of the Meadow Gold District and previous the brand new Mother Road Market meals corridor.
The Texas Panhandle stretch of Route 66 options picture ops just like the Cadillac Ranch artwork set up close to Amarillo and the Conoco Tower Station & U-Drop Inn Café in Shamrock (opened in 1936).
Three hundred miles farther west in New Mexico, Albuquerque presents a treasure trove of “Pueblo Deco” structure along Central Avenue, the unique path of Route 66 by way of the town. The KiMo Theater (opened in 1927), El Vado Motel (1937), and Monte Vista Fire Station (1936) mirror how Southwest Native American tradition influenced the journey expertise along the Mother Road.
Alicia M. Romero, head curator and curator of historical past on the Albuquerque Museum, says the rise of the trendy shopping center within the Nineteen Fifties saved many of the traditional buildings. “In an inadvertent way, that helped to preserve the architecture because people were focused on building new, bigger and better in different areas of town that people were moving to.”
Three of the town’s Route 66 traditional fuel stops have been repurposed. The Andy Johnston Service Station (1946) is now the Fan Tang Asian fusion restaurant, Jones Motor Company was transformed into M’Tucci’s Bar Roma, and Sam’s 66 Service Station has morphed into the retro 66 Diner.
The Albuquerque Museum is launching “The Other Route 66: 100 Years of People, Identity, and Place in Albuquerque” (June 6, 2026-January 3, 2027), an exhibition centered on New Mexicans who constructed, traveled and lived on or close to the route.
“That’s our contribution to celebrating the centennial,” Romero provides. “But Albuquerque is also doing other events throughout the entire year — outdoor concerts and different kinds of festivals. So, yeah, the city is very much geared up to all things Route 66.”
“Standin’ on a corner in Winslow, Arizona” is one of probably the most iconic traces of ’70s rock-n-roll. That nook is Kinsley Avenue and Old Highway 66, an intersection that didn’t have any specific significance till Jackson Browne and Glenn Frey wrote a catchy tune that grew to become an Eagles signature track.
Nowadays, the nook boasts a bronze statue of Frey, a flatbed Ford much like the truck within the track, and two Route 66 present outlets. The greatest place to “take it easy” is the Turquoise Room martini lounge within the historic La Posada Hotel, which opened in 1930 to serve motorists driving the Mother Road.
“When Interstate-40 was built, the classic Route 66 through downtown Winslow got bypassed,” says Winslow mayor Roberta “Birdie” Cano. “It was really a detriment to our community. So many shops closed down. A lot of people left town. If you were in Winslow in the ‘80s and ‘90s, it was a ghost town. The whole scene had just kind of fizzled away. But Standin’ on the Corner brought people back off the 40 into our downtown Route 66. And we’ve been having a little revival for quite a few years.”
Among the numerous ways in which Winslow is celebrating the centennial are a Roper Romp on Route 66 pub crawl impressed by the “Three’s Company” sitcom character Mrs. Roper (June 6), the Standing Horse Route 66 Powwow with Native American teams from across the Southwest (June 27-28), the Sittin’ Low on 66 lowrider automobile present (August 15), and a Jams on the Route 66 Plaza live performance collection on Saturdays in June and July.
“We get that Route 66 was part of our history, part of our growth, part of our existence,” says Cano. “With that in mind, we’re looking at this whole year as a celebration. Let’s bring people together, give them a reason to come to Winslow.”
Set along a uncommon unique part of Route 66 within the Mojave, Roy’s Motel & Café attracts Mother Road aficionados to the distant desert city of Amboy (official motto: “The Ghost Town That Ain’t Dead Yet”).
Roy’s was a well-liked cease on the cross-country journey till the early Nineteen Seventies when Interstate-40 opened and vacationers bypassed Amboy. Somehow the place held on for one more 30 years earlier than lastly shutting its doorways.
Philanthropist and restoration guru Albert Okura got here to the rescue by buying the whole city and beginning the gradual restoration of the cafe, motel, fuel station, present store and towering neon signal.
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A traditional instance of whimsical mid-century Modern “Googie” structure, Roy’s reopened in 2019. Although Okura handed away in 2023, the revival continues beneath his son, Kyle Okura.
“We have many visitors a day from people all over the world to come see our famous 50-foot neon sign, which we restored in 2019 and light up every night at sunset,” says Kyle Okura.
Roy’s presents one of California’s solely remaining full-service fuel stations the place staff trot out to fill your tank. Although the restaurant isn’t operational but, there’s a comfort retailer inside the unique cafe with merch, provides, snacks and drinks. Okura hopes to get the refurbished motel cottages reopened quickly.
Over the years, Roy’s has offered a moody setting for quite a few films, tv reveals and music movies. There’s an enormous Cruisin’ Car Show yearly that options dwell music, outside films, an ironic “Miss Amboy” contest, and hotrods from round Southern California.
Those who don’t need to drive to Roy’s can really fly into the desert touchdown strip behind the cafe (which was apparently one of California’s first airfields of any variety).
From Amboy it’s a 200-mile drive throughout the Mojave, down the Cajon Pass and thru the city sprawl of Los Angeles to the Santa Monica Pier, the place Route 66 lastly reaches the seashore.
Erected in 1941, the pier’s well-known blue-and-gold signal — the topic of countless selfies — marks the tip of an epic journey that for a lot of motorists is excess of simply one other highway journey.